The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2021 - 21

diversify. In the following,
I'll offer an introduction to
the online teaching industry,
discuss the necessary
qualifications, tell you where
you can find work, and go
over some of the equipment
you'll need to get started.
What's Online Teaching
and Cultural Experience
Hosting?
Online teaching consists of
video conferencing online
with one or more students
for a predetermined amount
of time in order to teach
them something. The role
is similar to a traditional
classroom teacher, but with
everything online. One great
advantage of online teaching
is that teachers can work in
the country of their choice.
The key is to figure out
which clients are frequenting
the online teaching platform
you choose and cater to their
needs. Most of my clients are
in the U.S., so I offer courses
on how to speak German.
With everyone yearning
for a taste of international
travel, online cultural
experiences have grown in
popularity over the past year.
Cultural experience hosting
is similar to online teaching.
Instead of teaching a skill,
however, cultural experience
hosts strive to provide
attendees the experience
of doing something in
a different country or
another language. Cultural
experiences can consist of
courses where attendees
engage in enjoyable hobbies
while speaking another
language with other
participants or courses where
participants engage in an
activity specific to a certain
culture. Cultural experiences
www.ata-chronicle.online
I've hosted include origami
folding in German, German
gingerbread cookie baking,
art class in German, and a
virtual shopping trip to a
German Christmas market.
For the sake of simplicity,
I'll refer to both online
teaching and cultural
experience hosting as " online
teaching " in this article.
What Qualifications
Are Required?
The most essential
qualifications are life
experience, valuable
expertise that you're willing
to share with others, and
the ability to effectively sell
that expertise. Although not
absolutely necessary, an
academic degree related to
what you're teaching may
help build credibility. You'll
need to have or develop
teaching skills, so a teaching
certificate of some sort can
be enormously helpful.
Translators/interpreters
are generally fluent in
multiple languages, have
very valuable life experiences
from living around the world,
and are highly familiar with
the corresponding cultural
environs. This in and of
itself makes translators/
interpreters perfect online
teachers and cultural
experience hosts. Overcoming
a natural tendency toward
introversion has been the
biggest challenge I've faced
while teaching online.
Where Do I Find Work?
There are a great many
ways to teach online.
Before you choose one, you
should decide how much
time you want to invest in
finding clients, what kinds
of students you want to
teach, how much you want
to be paid, and if you're
willing to develop your own
curriculum. Some online
teaching platforms offer
extra support with marketing
and some provide you with
fully-formed curriculum.
You'll be able to earn
considerably more if you're
willing to write your own
curriculum. Let's explore
some options, including the
pros and cons of each.
The most essential
qualifications are life
experience, valuable
expertise that you're
willing to share with
others, and the ability
to effectively sell
that expertise.
Create Your Own Online
Language School
This is the highest paying
and most flexible option,
but it also requires the most
work. Not only will you
have to write all your own
curriculum, but you'll also
have to bring in students
yourself. In addition to
collecting payment for you,
online platforms in this
category offer the technology
required to set up your
classes and offer them to the
masses. The rest is up to you.
Platforms to Check Out:
Learnworlds
www.learnworlds.com
Teachable
https://teachable.com
Thinkific
www.thinkific.com
Udemy
www.udemy.com
Kajabi
https://kajabi.com
Mighty Networks
www.mightynetworks.com
Teach for a Flexible
Online Company
If finding your own students
is too much for you, teaching
for a flexible online company
is a good option. They'll
advertise your classes and
enroll students so you
can focus on the nuts and
bolts of teaching. You'll be
expected to create your own
curriculum and content on
these platforms. Content is
subject to review and will be
advertised on the site once
approved. You'll generally
also be allowed to set prices
as you see fit. Platforms in
this category are often free to
use but will collect payment
for you and keep a small
percentage of the proceeds.
Platforms to Check Out:
Outschool
https://outschool.com
Amazon
https://bit.ly/teach-explore
Airbnb
https://bit.ly/airbnb-teach
Viator
https://bit.ly/Viator-host
Meetup
https://bit.ly/Meetup-teach
Teach English in China
There are quite a few online
English schools in China, all
American Translators Association 21
http://www.thinkific.com http://www.udemy.com https://www.kajabi.com http://www.mightynetworks.com https://www.outschool.com https://www.bit.ly/teach-explore https://www.bit.ly/airbnb-teach https://www.bit.ly/Viator-host https://www.bit.ly/Meetup-teach http://www.learnworlds.com https://www.teachable.com http://www.ata-chronicle.online
The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The ATA Chronicle - July/August 2021
